Heaven and Exile
by SarCastic HypoCrite
Summary: Sora decides that in his senior year his life and luck would change. If only he knew the extent. And it all starts and ends at locker 825, the locker said to be haunted by a once bullied teen. Ghostfic, Soriku, Cleon, and mentions of Akuroku. Rewrite of 'Eternal Night'.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This fic is probably one of the most beloved fanfics that I've ever written. So much so, that I've decided to completely revamp the whole thing and continue it from where it left off six years later, and hopefully make it better than ever. If you'd like to read the original it's posted under my old fanfiction account, Taru Taru Animegal. Yes, the original will have spoilers for this. No, I have no idea if it's going to have the same turn-out or anything, since I didn't (and still don't) actually make the plans before writing. x.x Also, my writing style and views on things have completely changed, and that will reflect in my post-college writing compared to... freiken... sophomore year of high school writing.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.** Not even my heart is part of Kingdom Hearts. So there.

Morning came all too quickly on the first day of school. I could hear a muffled sound of what seemed like a dying horse pulling me out of the hands of a wonderful, nameless man and back into the reality of my hot bed. Stupid alarm. I groaned, why did school have to be so early? It was like, only six thirty, if that! And the arms of the man in my dreams were so wonderful, too...

The eardrum shattering alarm wasn't going away. Only getting louder and louder, I gave my nice fuzzy pillow one final caress before starting the journey to find the horrible sound. My bed was like my own personal tent, my blue comforter being held down by a THOUSAND pillows!... Okay, five pillows, close enough. The only downside was that I had to wrestle my way out every morning. It was kind of like playing in those really colorful big round kite things that they had in elementary school, only you couldn't just shove it forward to get out of it.

There was a point under there when I couldn't tell which way was up, which probably led to my wall's untimely demise. It happened so sudden, the bed had crawled out from underneath me, sick of my fight on it's nice fluffy surface, and dropped me straight onto the floor. I yelped, a manly yelp mind you, since I was so definitely manly of course, and managed to get out of the death grip of the comforter. I stuck my hands up to stretch, only to find a gaping hole in the wall where my head must have landed. That poor wall, he never stood a chance against my spiky awesomness. Yes, my wall is a he now.

I fumbled through the sea of clothes sprawled out on the floor until I reached the light switch, smiling at the sound of tweeting birds right outside the window. It may have been dark outside, but it was really pretty too with the sun just barely peeking out enough to make the sky blue.

Today was the day that I decided everything was going to change. It wasn't just any old first day of school today, it was the first day of _senior year_. The year that I would finally break out of my shell and find the man of my dreams, who would come and swoop me away on a magical flying paopu into the eternal sunset of college and jobs and and passionate love making... I couldn't help but swoon at the thought. Wait, do manly men swoon?

I threw on my favorite blue shirt for good luck of course, and some black jeans. Slipping on the oversized packages of comfortable feet holders and grabbing my bag I was ready to go, carefully opening and closing the doors on my way out so I didn't wake my busy parents. Business typhoon and law enforcer equaled did NOT wanna get on their bad side when they worked late nights.

I couldn't help but smile as the fresh morning air hit my face. It felt like cotton candy tickling my face or something, and since I didn't want that feeling to go away, I threw my car keys in my bag deciding not to be suffocated by modern technology and actually WALK to school. Yes, I know, totally rare phenomenon. It really wasn't that far, only a couple of miles away from the neighborhood which also gave me the opportunity to stop by ol' Cid's shop on the way there.

It was a small little shop, kinda a mixture of a mom and pop store with all the benefits a normal gas station or convenience store would have. Cid was an old guy, but he never seemed to age in the twelve years that my family lived here. He knew me and a lot of my friend's names by heart, and sometimes even gave us discounts. I walked in with a cheerful smile and bee lined to the sugary fizzy gold known as soda.

"Eighteen and a senior already, eh? Yer makin' me feel mighty old Sora!" A familiar voice said, making me turn and smile at the old man.

"Good to see you too, old geezer. Thought you would've retired by now." I told him cheekily, He probably wasn't really THAT old, but his daughter did teach at the school quite a while ago when... I brushed off that thought and brought my soda to the counter for him to ring up.

"Nah. Got no one to run the shop. 'sides, it keeps me in shape, unlike you shorty." He jibed back, and I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue at him. Manly men didn't stick out their tongues, and this year things were changing!

It was true though, I wasn't particularly all that muscular, but it just meant that there was more squish to love. He handed me the soda and replaced the toothpick in this mouth with another, scratching his chin.

"I remember the day yer old bud Cloud used to come in here, bless the boy..." I tensed and held back a frown at the sound of my older brother's name. He had gone missing nine – almost ten years ago, right after graduation. Most people thought he had been kidnapped, others believed he left on his own will since a lot of his things were gone, too. I, however, believed it was something entirely different.

The most vivid memories I have of Cloud are the ones where he spoke of his friend. Leon had always seemed so.. different in my opinion when he actually got to show his face around our house, which wasn't often at all. Definitely the polar opposite of anyone in my family. Especially of Cloud, but he was obsessed with the brown haired man. I didn't understand until I was older why Cloud was so wrapped around him, but when I hit puberty, the only thing that made sense had been love. There isn't anything wrong with being in love, I'm happy for him! But... thing is, Leon was a ghost.

And not just any ghost, either. He had been murdered in the eight-hundred hall of the very same high school I attend, over fifty years ago! They say it was bullies, and that he started to torment the other kids to get revenge. But Cloud, being the strong, brave, fearless older brother that he was faced Leon and discovered that he could see, hear, and touch the other man. From that day forward there were many stories Cloud told and fewer reports of ghosty attacks. There are still people around who think that the hall is still haunted, or at least locker 825 where the murder took place, but there sure weren't as many disturbances.

"Sora! Dreamin' er ghosts is gonna get you late!" Cid's gruff voice rang in my ears, and I just gracefully managed to jump out of my skin. I took my drink in exchange for money and pouted.

"Ghosts don't exist..." I mumbled on my way out. Geez, if there was anyone who had any sort of suspicions, it would've been Cid. He thought that Leon was weird, too, though he wasn't ever outright told that the scar-faced man had died over fifty years ago. I shivered at a cold breeze that passed by me, all the talk of ghosts starting to get to me. Keep it together, Sora, There's nothing to be afraid of! Or so I made myself believe.

A part of me wondered if I should stop by Kairi's house on the way to the school... nah, wherever she was, Tidus was bound to be. He had been calling me a pansy since middle school, and once my ex best friend started dating him, she started to back him up on that, too. Though if that was the worst kind of crap I got at school, I would praise the heavens and every school deity around. Though it was still a little sad since the only one I spoke to at school aymore really was my cousin Roxas.

Speaking of, I recognized his spiky blonde hair right away, sitting at the front of the gate with a wrapped box in hand. I grinned, feeling giddy when Roxas looked up from his phone. "Sora!" He called, not that he needed to since he was holding what I could only guess was sugary yummyness wrapped especially for my pleasure.

"Aww you shouldn't have! You do know my birthday's not for three more days, right?" I told him, snatching the box out of his hands and started ripping at the wrapping paper before he could even say boo. Inside was a bag full of chocolate, different types and flavors that made me practically drool all over the sidewalk. "Oh Roxy, you know me so well!"

"Shuttup, don't call me that! And yeah I know, but I'm leaving town before that." Roxas threw back at me with a groan. He hated that nickname, and I took advantage of it so much, but not as much as his boyfriend did. I gave him a hug and immediately started depositing the yummy chocolate into my tummy for safekeeping.

"Oh my Roxas, how will that look on your permanent record?" I asked him sarcastically. His mom loved making him take these trips, and they became more and more frequent the closer he got to graduation. She wanted him to go to a college off the islands that he could study law school at, and as long as he didn't have to become a famous politician and could drag Axel along to college, he was A-OK with that plan.

Roxas rolled his eyes at me, and I could tell he was totally done with the conversation. He pulled out a couple dollar bills and got a sea salt ice cream pop out of the freeze vendor once we entered the building, returning to our spot in the main hall, where I had already safely deposited all of the chocolate. It surely showed on my face as I continued to wipe off the excess around my mouth and lick it off my fingers.

"Have you found a date yet? The dance is in two weeks." Roxas oh so nicely had to go and remind me. I just shook the spikes on top of my head, finding the floor patterns incredibly interesting at that point since I knew what was coming. Here we go again...

"Have you thought that maybe you just haven't looked hard enough? Look at me and Axel, we started dating to avoid being paraded on these god awful trips. Now though I... Well..." He trailed off

"Can't live without him? Don't ever wanna lose your Axy poo?" I said in a sweet voice that I knew would make him cringe.

"You know it helped that you totally suck at math and Axel was assigned your tutor way back when. I'm not lucky enough to get bad grades and have a smoking hot tutor!" No pun intended, of course.

He just rolled his eyes at me, which I totally ignored and got up. "There's only five minutes left until class, and I still gotta go hunt down my locker." I said with a sigh, seeing Roxas again for the first time in weeks was awesome, but sitting through classes was torture. He didn't look like he was ready to move, so I rolled my eyes and waved my hand, digging around the black hole known as my bag for a crinkled paper with classes and a locker number. Up at the top left corner... oh no.

The locker I had was locker 830. Not a big deal... just five lockers away from where someone was KILLED but I already knew who it was. So maybe it wasn't a big deal? I gulped down the forming lump in my throat and headed towards the hall. Not many people went down that hall, save for the custodians and the unfortunate people who had lockers down here. My hands were getting clammy, why was this so hard? Leon had taken off to heaven knows what place with Cloud, no more torment, right? I kept telling myself that as my hands were all but dripping sweat.

Finally, 830... The lockers seemed normal, a couple of dents here and there from wear and tear but nothing that screams 'murder took place 5 lockers away!' I took comfort from that and looked down at the paper in my hand, or at least tried. I couldn't get myself to stop shaking.

"Ok Sora, you can do this... 31... 24...1-" The room went cold as I heard a noise, and I whipped my head around so fast I swear I heard something crack. No one was there. Sighing, I turned the lock back so that I could restart the combo. Stop being such a chicken! You're a manly man now!

"Who is there?" That was it. To hell with manly man. I screamed, like the girl I am of course, falling on the floor with my books surrounding me.

"Please don't eat me Leon I'm sorry!" I called, it must have been an interesting sight, my hands above my head and knees tucked in, whimpering mess. What a man, Sora. Just, what a man. I shakily looked up when nothing happened, head twisting and turning before looking up... Only to see the most gorgeous aquamarine eyes ever.

He looked down at me curiously for a minute, raising an eyebrow that framed his god-like eyes with a smirk. Yeah yeah I know I look so manly, you don't have to rub it in hot guy. "Looks like I scared you a little bit too much." His voice said, like butter cutting through the horribly horrible thick air.

"I'm Riku."

I blinked, for a minute completely forgetting why I was on the ground in the first place. When he leaned over and offered a hand, I finally shook out of it and took his hand. It was so warm... burning almost, and I felt a blush spread up to my ears. It was a nice contrast to the freezing feeling in the hall.

"S-sora." Did I just stammer? No, Sora, down boy. Riku was a good head taller than me, and had the most gorgeous silver hair I'd ever seen, but besides all that I had never seen him before. He looked to be a senior though, at least I hoped he was, it would totally kill my self esteem of manliness if he was a junior or sophomore.

"Where you from? Oh I m-mean it's just-just I've never seen you around before." I said more quickly than my brain could say to me. His smirk never left and he had helped me pick up my books, walking with me on the way to class. I was grateful that the other hallways were much warmer than the one where my locker was. It didn't seem like he was in a hurry for any sort of class, which I didn't question since it just meant I had more time to talk to the sex on le- down boy.

"I'm from... The northern island. Transferred here when a friend told me the academic performance was better here." He said curtly. I had to resist a snort, who went to a school for academic achievements in high school? College maybe, but definitely not high school. I wandered into English and almost skipped in joy when Riku followed me in. He must have the same class! And that means I can ask him more questions. I bit my tongue when the bell rang though, and he took a seat behind me. Not fair, he could look at me and I couldn't look at him! That is, assuming, he plays for our team. Not likely.

The first two classes were a coincidence. But by third period, I was a little unnerved by Riku following me around. It was like he was a zombie puppy, and would only talk to me in the hallways, not that I minded the company. It was more unsettling because he was never called out in class, and three classes together seemed a little bit weird.

More than anything though, I was so glad to be out of those suffocating classes for a while at lunch. Sitting still wasn't something I could do for very long, and tapping your foot and playing with paper could only get one so far. I headed into the lunch room, sighing a little bit. Riku had come up with some reason that he couldn't be there at lunch, leaving me alone for the first time all day. It was almost like I was missing something now, even though I'd only knew him since the morning. I grabbed my food and headed over to the usual spot, where Roxas, Hayner, Pence, Olette and Axel were sitting.

"I thought you graduated last year Axel?" I asked him with a grin, not really caring much. He was obviously there to torment – I mean spend time with his precious Roxy poo. They were so stinking cute.

"Yeah yeah, doesn't mean I can't come spend time with my favorite blonde at lunch." The redhead said, returning my smile with one of his own, where Roxas just rolled his eyes.

"You mean as long as you don't get caught, delinquent." He jabbed at his much taller boyfriend who just laughed. My mind couldn't help but wander back to Riku and if I would ever be able to be that comfortable around him. I sure hoped so.

"Aww Roxy you wound me." I tuned out their banter at that, playing with the food and front of me. It wasn't until Hayner waved a hand in front of me that I realized just how goofy I must've looked. I always was the first person to finish my food, but this time it was still untouched on the tray.

"Earth to Sora! Geez your distracted today." He said and I just shook my head.

"Err... It must be senior-itis. What's up?" I asked, pushing away my embarrassment at the fact everyone was staring at me.

"I asked if your mom was still treating you like a five- year-old now that your an adult."

"Nah, she stopped doing that when she realized that I could drive here wherever she wanted." I told him honestly. My mom hated driving more than anything, and I didn't mind giving her rides. It was just a plus that she let me do what I wanted as long as it was within reason. That, and as long as my father wasn't home, which normally he wasn't

"She never did like operating moving vehicles, did she?" Roxas mused out loud. I nodded and continued to stuff my face with the lukewarm mac and cheese in front of me. Even with all the smalltalk, my mind couldn't let Riku out of it, and I wondered where he had gone. Maybe the roof? Or the library, the second one being more of an option since he seemed to be a know-it-all.

"Hey guys, do you know a Riku by chance?" I asked, to which there were shrugs around the table and solid 'no's. I scratched my head and looked at Pence.

"You must know who he is, he was in second period with us today. Silver hair and stuff?" I asked the slightly chubby man, who just shook his head.

"I have no idea who your talking about. Sorry, Sora." My shoulders slumped at that. Riku was so different, 'least to me he was, and I was sure that so many others would be swooning over him... not that I'd complain otherwise. I didn't miss the look that Roxas gave me though and completely downed my food, opting to head to the locker rooms early and change for gym to avoid his questions.

"I'll see you after school, Sora!" The blonde called after me and I gulped. It was not negotiable.

Gym was never my favorite class. Not because I didn't like to get up and do stuff for a change, but because coach Larxene was awful. She LOVED dodge ball, and usually the balls were charged with electricity. That, and I hated changing in front of other people. Why we couldn't play basketball in our normal day clothes was beyond me.

I set down my bag in front of me and picked out a locker, pulling out a lock and my gym clothes before groaning. I had totally forgotten to drop off half my books when I was at my locker. No wonder my back had been sore all day, and I was NOT looking forward to going back down that hall later. Stuffing my bag in the locker and checking to make sure there were no signs of life, I started to strip, praying I could get changed and ready before anyone came in.

I had just barely managed to shuffle on my shorts when the room started to get cold, making me shiver. That seemed to happen a lot today. Whether if it was because of the cold or because it felt exactly like it did this morning by my locker I didn't know, and really, I didn't WANT to know. I wasn't really given the chance to get scared this time though, Riku's warm hand grabbing mine and dragging me away.

"Uwah! R-riku, where are we going? How did you know where I was?" I asked him. He didn't take me far, only a couple of rows of lockers down to an open locker. Stupid Sora that must've been his locker! How did you totally miss the sexy man!? Riku was already sporting his gym clothes, and suddenly I was overly aware that my squishy whole top half of me was showing.

"Saw you walk in here. You're not very coordinated, are you?" He asked me, pulling out some sort of small, plastic case from his gym locker and handed it to me. I furrowed my eyes and opened it, scrunching up my nose. It was a stupid mouth guard.

He sighed at the look I gave it. "Wear it. It's brand new and I certainly don't need it, and coach Larxene is merciless. At least from what I've heard." I cringed and popped the stupid thing in my mouth. There were a lot of close calls I had in her class, and only in the sense that my teeth weren't knocked out. I was almost always hit in the face when she played her favorite game, 'lightning', code word for dodge balls that zapped you. Still, the way my mouth jutted out made me really rethink it.

"Ay ook shuupich" I told Riku, shrugging on my shirt and headed back to throw the rest of my clothes in my locker. He followed and gave me his signature smirk, which for the first time all day I thought was really annoying.

"You look fine... as long as you don't talk with that in your mouth." He reassured me. I didn't believe him, but I couldn't get myself to argue with the sexy man.

"Au rye."

He smiled at me and turned, leaving for the gym when the bell rang. Classmates started flooding in, stripping and hounding each other. I did my best to ignore them and crammed everything in my locker, having to shove it closed and hurry with the lock since there were so many books in my bag. I practically ran out of there and onto the bleachers, spotting Riku near the top and raced up to him, taking the infuriating piece of plastic out of my mouth during roll call.

"Back again, Sora Sakai?" The shrill voice of a certain blonde haired coach called. I nodded, saying nothing to her out of fear. She loved to pick me out, or pick on me, whatever floated her boat the day.

"Don't tell me your afraid of a girl trowing a bunch of rubber balls, Sora?" Riku said next to me, and I said nothing. No, I wasn't afraid thank you very much, I was TERRIFIED of that woman and her throwing skills. It could be worse, I told myself, remembering the stories of Cloud's coach, who was ironically Cid's daughter Rikku, throwing balls with grenades in them, and if they touched the ground they would blow up. It was sad to think about, that Cloud's stories were the only things that got me through school sometimes since he wasn't around for me to share with him.

"Sora?" Riku called and I looked at him, giving him a weak smile. I felt better that he was here, and as more people filed in he stayed. Larxene called roll, and I tuned it out up until she called my name, moving to my spot on the bleachers that she pointed out. I never heard her call Riku's name, but I also wasn't paying very close attention. He was sitting at the end of the opposite side, which made me huff. So far away.

"Today we're going to be playing lightning... my way." there were many groans in the crowd, including my own. How did the school get away with this kind of torture? Probably because Ms. Yuna was one hell of a good nurse. I looked over at Riku, who didn't seem fazed by her announcement. I cringed and popped in the mouth guard once more.

Once divided into teams, I was grateful that Riku was on my side. He patted my head and went in front, getting ready to run. I gulped and followed suit, until he started laughing.

"I won't let anything hit you, Sora. You just relax and enjoy the show." I blushed and nodded, though I wasn't very confident that even Riku could handle her lightning balls. He proved me wrong though, the first serve Larxene did was directed, no shocker, towards me. I hyperventilated until Riku came in front and blocked it with his chest, sending it back fast at Larxene. The whole class was silent some with terrified looks and I blinked. Riku wasn't just good, he was great.

The ball didn't come my way the rest of the period.

 **A/N:** Oh wow, that took a lot more time than I thought it would, course it also took me a bit to fall into the swing of writing again. I'm going to be writing this side by side with the original chapters until I'm caught up, so I get the opportunity to change a lot and elaborate on a lot more from the original. **Please Review!** Was this any good? Let me know to add fuel to push out the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

_The sound of his mother tapping on the keys of the keyboard was almost heaven. Cloud needed a distraction, and not just any distraction. He needed normalcy after all that went on that day, and the sound of cars driving passed him and the slamming of the front door just wasn't enough._

" _Welcome home sweetheart." the soft womanly voice came from the living room. His mom was still in school, going for her degree to become a social worker. She was always thinking of him and Sora, and always wanted to help all of the kids that weren't as fortunate. His mother was just the piece of normal he needed in that moment._

 _Instead of mumbling back and heading for his room, the blonde male actually responded with a 'hey mom' and headed to the fridge to grab a drink for him and her. His mom raised an eyebrow at his sudden interest, he was after all a teenager, but didn't question it when he sat across from her desk on the couch and turned on the television._

 _Cloud rubbed at his spikes and took a swig of his drink. He knew what he had seen, and knew what everyone else didn't. Tifa, his girlfriend of two years, had been all but thrown out of the eight hundred hall earlier that day. It was enough to have him seeing red. He had never been one to believe in ghost stories, and didn't give two fucks about whether or not he was going to be able to take down the actual culprit. Sure enough, there was a man who seemed to be a hard ass smirking against the lockers._

 _The brunettes smirk soon fell when Cloud's fist collided with the locker, too close to his face for comfort, and noticed that the blonde was actually_ looking _at him, not just through him._

" _You've got five seconds before I hand your ass to you." Cloud seethed, picking up the guy by his white shirt, which only startled the brunette more. After a moment, he smacked away Cloud's hand, furrowing his eyes which only accented the scar between his eyes more._

" _She had it coming. All of you did." He sneered. Tifa had made it back on her feet, seemingly unscathed minus a forming bruise on her right elbow, which only made gray eyes smolder in hate._

" _Cloud there you are! I tripped over something and took a nasty fall... What's wrong?" She asked him, cocking her head. All the could see was his fist against the locker. Cloud could only shake._

" _This bastard pushed you, you didn't trip!" He insisted, eyes never leaving Leon's. His smoldering gaze softened, something akin to amusement in them at that. He knew that she couldn't see him, nobody could. Nobody but Cloud, apperantly._

" _What bastard? I don't see anyone." She told him, looking around the hallway before shrugging._

" _Did he run off?" Tifa walked up to them, not even a foot away from the brunette man putting a hand on her hip. Cloud blinked when she walked up to them, turning his head from him to her and back to him. Tifa cocked her head and simply walked through the brunette man, looking up at Cloud, whose face was now in shock. The blonde's baby blue eyes were the size of saucers, slowly backing away from the double of Tifa and the brunette._

" _Cloud? Are... you alright?" She asked carefully. The gray eyed man smirked and walked forward, this time pinning Cloud on the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, leaning into his ear._

" _Don't fuck with poltergeists Strife." He said, whispering something else into his ear before walking into a nearby locker, one that had to be the place he had died. Cloud said nothing for a good minute, even when Tifa had waived a hand in front of his face he was unresponsive. Tifa finally gave in and actually smacked his face lightly, pulling him back into reality._

" _Maybe you should lay down in Ms. Yuna's. You look Pale, Cloud." She said, concerned. Cloud just shook his head, swallowing thickly and pushed himself off the wall behind him._

" _N-no... I'm fine, Sorry. Just... didn't sleep well last night." He told her. He knew he was lying through his teeth even just sitting on the couch. He was beating himself up internally, taking another swig of his drink. Cloud hadn't lied to Tifa in over five years, but how exactly was he supposed to tell her that she'd been attacked by a hot ghost? Scratch out the hot bit, he told himself._

 _Enter home an eight year old Sora and Kairi, squealing and giggling about something or another. Cloud smiled and got up, nothing was more real than spending time with his little brother, even if the little brunette was annoying when his friends were around._

" _Hey squirt." Cloud said, ruffling his spikes lovingly. Sora pouted, shooing away cloud's hand._

" _I'm not a squirt! I'm eight years old!" He protested, throwing off his bag and shoes by the door, while Kairi followed suit. She had run into the kitchen, used to maneuvering the house like it had been her own and grabbed a lunchable out of the fridge before plopping down on the couch Cloud had been on._

" _Almost Eight, Sora. Your birthday's not for another three days." He reminded the boy, picking him up like a sack of potatoes and grabbed his respected lunch. He would stay on the couch, listening to Sora and Kairi's banter and even went as far as helping the two with their homework. Usually he would put it off completely until they came to him, practically begging him for help._

 _Before he knew it the sun had started to set, and he escorted Kairi to her house a couple blocks away, taking Sora with him. He almost didn't say anything, but he knew he was going to go insane if he didn't get it off his chest. Sora had always listened to him, no matter how bogus the story. So with a huff, he picked up the small brunette and threw him on his shoulders. His little brother was almost too big for him to do that._

" _I met a ghost today." He said bluntly to Sora, who was crouched on his head. Cloud didn't give him a chance to respond._

" _He... did some mean things to Tifa, and I tracked him down and yelled at him. He was kinda scary." And hot, the thought to himself. The idea flipped through his mind and left just as fast as it came in. Sora fidgeted, making a 'hmm' sound and tapped his chin._

" _Maybe he's lonely." Sora offered, and Cloud blinked. Could ghosts be lonely? Could they feel anything at all? He seemed pretty mad, saying that everyone deserved it. The question was why though._

" _Did he have a name?" Sora asked, and Cloud put him down in front of their house. He felt a shiver crawl down his spine, remembering the brunette man stepping way too close for comfort to whisper in his ear. When he noticed Sora's expecting look he crouched and nodded with a serious look._

" _Leon. His name is Leon."_

I couldn't be happier when gym came to an end and the first time in forever I was unscathed. I praised every deity available; God, Kami, three Goddesses, Jegus, and even Riku, since I was convinced he had to be a walking god. It was a little bit weird that people were complimenting me – shouldn't they be complimenting the walking god? But Riku was all but ignored. I felt anger start to well up and zipped to my locker, yanking the lock off and hauled all my stuff in a stall to change.

How could the just ignore him like that!? He was extremely gorgeous and good at everything. Well, everything that I saw he was good at, and people acted like he wasn't even there! I huffed out of my gym clothes and threw them on the floor, glaring at them. It was all the clothes fault.

Once I was back in my shirt and jeans, I collected my gym clothes and threw them back into the locker,, throwing the lock back on. The locker rooms were just about empty again at that point, and I almost had a heart attack when I spun around to pick up my bag and Riku was leaning against the wall.

"Hey Sora, how far do you live from here?" He asked quickly, tilting his head as my icy heart meted, though I threw him a pout for good measure for scaring me. He didn't seem to care.

"Er... Only a few blocks from here, why? And you don't have to sneak up on me all the time you know!" I scolded him lightly, heading back out to the hallway. The more I thought about it the weirder it was. Not even Roxas' friends had bothered asking where I lived, and here was a gorgeous man practically following me home after only a day. Not that I cared, he could follow me anywhere, to the moon, to New York, into my be-

DOWN BOY.

I felt him move beside me so I guessed he had shrugged his shoulders. "Just curious. Maybe I could come over sometime?" He asked, completely ignoring my mini lecture. My heart just about jumped out of my throat, yes yes, PLEASE come home with me! I was practically bouncing off the walls on the inside.

"Sure! How about... today? I-if you're not busy..." I trailed off, trying and failing to keep it cool. I knew I was praying for the impossible, but I couldn't help it.

"Sure why not. I've got loads of free time." He said with a shrug, which stopped me dead in the hall and caused my books to go flying when someone rammed into my back. I'm sure they said something like 'don't stop in the middle of the hall, moron!' but I was too much in shock to do more than pick up my things. When my mind stopped being goo, I sped up my pace.

"A-are you sure? Won't your parents want you home?" I said quickly, but when I looked over to him I completely regretted saying anything. He looked like a kicked puppy. Not giving care to the wind, I stopped in front of the library not caring if I was late. I was only a TA, and Aerith was a cool librarian anyway.

"Well... My parents have been dead for a few years now. And since I... turned eighteen I've been on my own." Orphaned? At his age? How does he pay the bills, who makes him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches after school? I thought about a life without my mom and couldn't bare it. I gave him a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Riku! I'll make your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for you!" I blurted out. It wasn't really about the food, but it was the only thing I could get to come out. Nothing could make losing someone okay. When I pulled away from the hugmy cheeks were hot, and probably pink, when he gave me a funny look.

"Um... thanks?" He said, letting out a chuckle before ruffling my hair. Great, now he thinks I'm weird.

"I-I'll just meet you by the front after school. I'm TA for the library next, and your gonna be late for class." Said, picking up my bag off the floor. When did I put it down? Ah well it doesn't matter. The bell rang and teachers were on the prowl for late students, but it was worth it to see the smile Riku had on his face. It was the first genuine smile he'd had on all day.

"Alright, if you insist. It's a date." He told me before waiving, heading off in the other direction. Damn him, he liked to catch me off guard and turn my legs into jello, cause I couldn't move for a good minute. Did he just say 'date'?

At the sound of heels coming down the hall I quickly ducked into the library, sighing. He must've just meant it as a figure of speech. He seemed to be the kind of guy that would do that... my heart dropped at that, but there was work to be done. I went and dropped off my bag in Ms Aerith's office, waving so she knew I was there to get stuff done.

Being a TA in the library had it's up times, but most of the time it was boring since most people came in during lunch. I propped myself up on a stool, grabbing books out of the return bin and started checking them back into the library, which took no brainpower at all, even for me. Which let my mind wander on other things.

How was I supposed to go back into the hallway with my locker? Sure nothing had happened, but I could FEEL the difference in the air. What if Leon was still there, and still mad? What if Cloud had just gotten tired of living with us? I grimaced at that. No, Cloud wasn't that kind of guy, at least from what I remembered of him.

Still, I didn't know whether Leon was or not. He probably wouldn't recognize me, and if he was as angry as we was back then... the thought made my palms sweat again. I scrunched up my nose and took in a breath, continuing with checking in the books.

I couldn't help feeling this way, ghosts were still ghosts even if you know 'em! I let out another sigh and turned to the back, burying my head in my arms. This sucked. School sucked. And there was no way in hell I was lugging around all of my books around all year!

Someone cleared their throat behind me and I almost shooed them away, couldn't they see I was wallowing in my own misery right the? Stupid people... Wait, Riku? I straightened up when I saw it was him. What was he doing in the library now of all times?

"I want to check out a book." He said simply, as if reading my mind. It was a copy of 'Romeo and Juliet' sitting on the plate to check out books. I gave him a questioning look before scooting my butt and chair back to the checkout station.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be in class?" I asked him, acting like I actually cared, which I didn't. His presence made all the uneasiness wash away, and for that I was grateful. He just shrugged his shoulders at the question, not really seeming all that focused on the book and more focused on me.

"Teacher never showed up, so I decided to come here and do a little free study instead. Then I saw you looking all miserable and decided to talk to you instead. What's up?" He asked, looking honestly concerned. I didn't want to answer him. Any time people asked about the incident and I told them what I thought, they would just think I was crazy. I opened the program to check out the book and let out a puff of air. This was just Riku, he wouldn't judge you Sora... at least I hoped.

"Err... Just an old wives tale floating around school. Some people believe that someone was bullied to death in the hall where my lockers in, and..." I trailed off, turning my attention back to the screen of the computer. He would just laugh. When I turned to ask about his student number he seemed really serious though, and the question just wouldn't come out. He looked almost pissed, something I didn't know Riku was capable of.

"I've heard of that. It wasn't just one person that died that day though, two people did. They were forcibly shoved in after being brutally beaten, and neither of them were found in time since the hallway wasn't used that much." My mouth went dry, horror sinking into the pit of my stomach. So it wasn't just Leon that died that day, and there could very well be another angry spirit looking for revenge...

"Back then, people could trust each other, or so it seemed to some. It was a smaller town. Back then, the idea of bullies didn't even cross peoples minds... until the town started expanding." He looked in pain when he talked, and if I didn't know any better I would say he had been there himself. Could Riku be a ghost? No, he was talking, walking, and seemed pretty normal. There was no way... right?

" They sealed off the hallway for a long time, up until about twelve years ago when the school decided it needed more space. It angered one of the ghosts, caused him to start acting violent since the two of them could be left in peace. Then two years after that, it stopped. At the same time though, someone disappeared from the school."

"Cloud..." I whispered to myself, feeling my body get heavy and my head droop. So Riku had heard of it too. He heard about Leon... and even thought of my brother. Maybe I wasn't crazy after all.

"You knew him? The guy who went missing?" He asked me curiously and all I could do was nod.

"He... he was my brother. Cliud... Well, he knew the ghosts, Riku, or at least one of them. he... He could see one by the name of Leon. At first the stories he told were about how mean he was, but after a while the man was coming home with Cloud, and nobody knew but me..." I could see his face change and eyes glass over and sighed. He din't believe me...

"You never told me your student number to check out this book." I said, changing the subject quickly. I didn't want Riku to think I was crazy, and only only knowing him for five hours... It would hurt having him think I was a freak.

"It doesn't matter anymore, I should be going back to class in case the teacher shows up. I'll see you after school, Sora." He told me and offered me a small smile before turning and leaving. I groaned and hit my head against the counter top when he was out. Stupid stupid stupid! You just totally blew all the chance you had with the gorgeous man!

I winced, feeling a goose egg forming on my forehead when I pulled up off the counter. It must've done something, cause I vaguely remembered Roxas making a promise to hunt me down at the end of school too. Well, that's two people who were going to think I'm crazy. Well at least one of them is family, right?

"Sora? You alright?" Ms. Aerith called after hearing the repeated banging, no doubt. I just nodded and sniffled, showing the goose egg forming on my head to her, and she just shook her head.

"You've done enough today Sora, go lay down in Yuna's room, okay? It seems like today's been hard on you." She said softly, rubbing my back with a smile. Aerith and Yuna were two of the only teachers remaining at the school from when Cloud went here, and she must have heard Riku and I talk about him.

I didn't say anything but got off the chair, grabbing my bag from her office and headed towards the nurses office. The eight hundred hall was eeriy close to the library, and I couldn't help but take a peek down it, shivers going through my spine. Forget Leon, I had a total stranger for a ghost still living in the hallway to deal with. Just great. What if Leon's friend decided to come after me? I didn't want to be a ghost...

The final bell finally rang through the school and a bolted, heading for the nearest doors. First instinct was to avoid Roxas and Riku and head straight home, hoping that I had made it out before them. But fate was not with me today, and somehow Roxas had managed to be at the gate before me. My feet slowed to a crawl at the sight of him, not wanting to go into details about Riku right then. Curse Roxas and his slightly taller and faster physique!

"You're late." He told me mockingly and I huffed, standing up against the grates of the fence. Roxas had on a stern look before putting on a smile, here comes the bombardment of questions.

"So this Riku guy... you gonna ask him to the dance?" He said simply, though it was a loaded question. How did you guys meet? Is he sexy? Do I need to start teaching you about safe sex? All of that wrapped up in that one little question, and the earth would not do me any favors by swallowing me.

"Maybe, maybe not! I've only known him for like... seven hours!" I huffed, making him laugh up until Axel snaked his way behind my cousin just in time for Riku to show up. I owed him big time.

"I'll tell him to quit bothering ya about your new boy toy, Sora." Scratch that, Axel is dead. My face must've been 5 shades of crimson standing next to Riku, but Axel just walked away with Roxas struggling against him, wanting to get more answers out of me. My blush deepened when I saw the smug smirk on Riku's face.

"Boy toy, huh? Wonder who they were talking about." Riku said, even though it was obvious that he knew. I tugged at his sleeve and practically bounced left in the direction of home, was there something I was supposed to be fretting about Riku? Oh well didn't matter now.

"You sure your not related to the energizer bunny? You've been squirming all day Sora." He said with a chuckle, making me grin right back at him. He was right, I couldn't sit still for the life of me, but more so because Riku made me nervous. In the give you butterflies all over and fangirl squeals kind of way, of course.

" Well what did you expect? Staying crammed in a seat for hours on end, not able to move a muscle, soooo boring!" I whined out, dragging my feet for emphasis. Score! Another chuckle escaped those beautifully shaped lips of his.

We stopped by Ci'd place on the way to my house, but Riku stayed outside and waited, insisting that he didn't want to get asked about his hair. I was confused, since Silver hair was rather common around the area but shrugged and dropped it, picking out two cold root beers and put them on the counter to be rang up.

"An extra one? Pickin' one up fer your girl, eh?" He asked and I blushed, pulling out my wallet. Riku was definitely no girl... but I did wish he was mine.

"No, just for a friend." That sounded a little depressing. "He's waiting outside 'cause he didn't want to get asked about his hair. I don't see the problem, lots of people have silver hair, but he insisted." I explained, grabbing the change he put in front of me and stuffed it in my suddenly jam-packed wallet.

"Ah well, kids these days. Count yer change, kid, gave you a freebie!" He chided me and I grinned. This afternoon has turned out to be great after all.

"Thanks old man!" I told him, practically bouncing back outside and smiled to Riku. He was leaning up against the brick of the building, looking up at the sky looking a bit distressed until he looked at me. Wonder what that was about. Oh well, he could tell me if he wanted to.

"You ready to go?" He asked and I nodded, two drinks in tow as I opened one and took a swig of it. It was hotter outside lately, so the cool drinks were so refreshing.

"Mhm. My house is only a couple streets away from here. The old man gave me a discount and I got you a drink for free if you want it." I told him, offering up the soda. He looked at it wearily and didn't take it, and for a minute my heart sank. He wasn't going to accept my lov- er, discounted drink offer?

"I'm... not really thirsty right now. I'll drink it when we get to your house." He said. I could feel my head tilt as my confusion rose, but I chose to drop it. The last thing I wanted to do was scare off my hot sexy... friend something... before he had even made it to the house. We weren't that far at all, and soon enough I had to put down the cold drinks on the cement step in front of my house to swim through the bottomless pit known as my bag.

It was a decent sized house that my parents had, starting with a main level with a large living room, a bedroom with it's own bathroom, and a decent sized kitchen. The upstairs held the master bedroom, master bathroom, and a closet, all of which I convinced my parents to let me have since I was currently the only one at home for more than twelve hours anymore... and I might be a little greedy. The basement was finished after I was born since they were planning on having more than just Cloud and me, adding in a family room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom/ laundry room. Obviously things didn't go as planned.

Shuffling through the mess of books was a pain. I was in so much of a hurry when school got out that I forgot to go to my stupid locker, AGAIN. Not that I really minded ,I would avoid it at all costs if it meant not running into a scary ghost in the near future. With my bag contents littering the front steps I turned to Riku and gave him a nervous grin. Crap, I remember putting them in here!

"Let me guess... You lost your keys." He said bluntly ad I smacked my forehead with my palm. He helped me pick up the books and papers littered about and I let out an inward groan. It was going to take a miracle to get in the house before my mom got home...

"The only other way in is through the balcony door to my room and it's not easy to get to." I whined. The balcony only had two skinny, slippery poles that held it up, the rest of it being attached to the siding. He shrugged and got up, holding his hand out for me to take.

"It shouldn't be that bad." I took his hand and my face felt hot from the touch, he was so freiken' _warm_ and it shot electricity through my, sending messages that were just too crude to mention and wow he is ripped.

We went through the gate to the backyard, It was neat and tidy with a door into the kitchen – that was always locked since no one was ever home. I kept my balcony door unlocked mainly because I had no faith that anyone could make it up there, that is until Riku did his Riku thing.

"Seriously? You can't climb up this?" He asked me with a shiny grin, and with all of three jumps he had managed to hop up the pole and onto the wooden balcony, pulling himself up and looked down at me. I drooled, he was like a parkour ninja and a sex god wrapped into one perfect little bundle of yum. His smirk got bigger and I realized that I'd totally missed what he just said.

"I'm sorry... What?" I asked lamely.

"I asked if you wanted me to go in and open the front door for you. But if your too distracted I guess I could just come back down.." He said turning to sidle back down the pole. I almost just told him to come back, getting to watch a show like that didn't happen every day, but my brain betrayed me.

"N-no, If you could open the door that would be great." I asked, watching him walk in and headed to the front once more. A wave of panic turned in my stomach though and I practically bolted for the door. When was the last time my room was cleaned up!?

He was already there, smirking at my panicked self, and I felt so ashamed. He's gonna think I'm a slob!

"Nice room, Sora. You should really do something about the moldy pizza and hole in the wall, though." He said with a grimace. I resisted the urge to smack my head for a third time that day, completely forgetting about the hole in the wall from my head that morning.

"The hole was made this morning after my comforter attacked me and threw me at the wall." I told him with complete honesty and walked into the almost immaculate living room. Besides the upstairs the house looked almost untouched, save for maybe my parents room, but then again, I never went in there anyway.

"And the rest of the mess?" He asked with amusement, taking the untouched root beer I had and sat at the table to drink it. I huffed and sat across from him with my own root beer.

"Whats the point of keeping my room clean in the summer?" I asked him kiddingly, but another thought came to mind. "And it's not like anyone cares if it's clean or not anyway."

I half expected Riku to throw out another arrogant and sarcastic question, but instead he hummed at me and took a sip, scooting to sit in the chair next to mine before that. "Speaking of, where are your parents?" He looked at me expecting and I could only shrug.

"My dad left on a business trip this morning and won't be back for a couple of weeks. And my mom around this time has finished working and is doing overtime working on cases. She usually goes between working at the courthouse and the police station." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the full truth, either. He gave me a questioning look.

"Sounds like you must be pretty lonely, then." I could tell he wanted to say more, but what he said hit me so hard I didn't get the chance to ask. Was I lonely? I remember being lonely after Cloud had disappeared. Before that mom had her own office in the basement and a workbench in the living room. She was home as much as possible, probably because dad was hardly ever home.

That had changed though. Mom hadn't been downstairs at all since most of Cloud's stuff was still down there in his old room. In fact, no one had been down there in years. I vaguely remember what it actually looked like.

"I... never really thought about it that way before." I told him honestly, shaking my head out of it's stupor when Riku got up and ruffled my hair.

"You have a Playstation, right? Let's play some Fallout 4." He suggested, grabbing the case from the front of the television and popped it in, grabbing a controller before plopping on the couch. I finished my root beer and nodded, throwing away the can and sat next to him on the couch. He bumped his shoulder into mine and I blushed as my body fell onto his, not bothering to get off of him when we started playing.

Everything about today had been whirring around in my head, how different it had been. How coach Larxene didn't hit me once. How there is a second ghost that's wandering the halls of Destiny High and possibly out to get me. How I couldn't stop thinking about Cloud and where he was all day. And it was all thanks to Riku.

Maybe I didn't have to worry about things. The thought popped in as Riku finished the mission, waiving the controller in my face, which I greedily took. I couldn't help but think that Riku would protect me, be it from an angry ghost or a psycho gym coach. But this nagging feeling wouldn't leave, nagging that I should be careful. Everyone I talked to today had looked at me strange when I mentioned Riku, like he wasn't even there. But here he was, sitting and playing games, drinking root beer and snorting at my repeated failures. Ghosts couldn't do that.

Right?

 **A/N:** Whoo, Second chapter finally out. The third chapter probably won't be out as quickly as this one, mainly because I needa break from and there are plenty of other things calling my name to be written. BUT! I will do my best to have the next one out by valentines day. Two weeks isn't too bad I don't think.

 **Please Review!** The first chapter has also been revised if you wanna bother with re reading it. If not it doesn't really matter, not much changed anyway.


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